Wolf

"Wolf'"

"Hey! Remus! Guess what? Professor Marx has canceled our classes tomorrow!" cried James happily as he entered the Gryffindor common room.

I looked up from reading my Divination of Modern Times textbook. James had walked over to Remus, who was sitting in a chair relaxing.

"Why?" Remus asked, looking alarmed.

"She's not feeling well. Probably has hemorrhoids or something," James replied.

I giggled.

James turned his blue eyes onto me and grinned.

"Like that, Haley?" he asked, brightly.

I nodded and grinned. Remus caught my eye and slowly grinned too then he chuckled.

Remus then shyly moved his eyes off of me and back onto James. James winked at me and then glanced at Remus innocently. Remus was giving him a stern look.

"What? I'm not doing anything," James said, defensively.

I returned my eyes onto my book, and pretended to read, when I was really listening intently.

"I know you like her! Just go and tell her!" James whispered to Remus.

"I'm not like you, James! I will tell her but when I'm ready! What if she doesn't feel the same way?" I heard Remus hiss back. "I'll feel like a total loser," he moaned.

"You're never going to know unless you say something!" James replied.

I felt my cheeks burning.

Remus Lupin likes me. He was so shy, but he was extremely cute, I thought

He never talked to any of the girls much except for Lily Evans. Lily Evans, James Potter, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were all best friends. James was the Seeker for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He was an excellent player.

Lily was very pretty with shoulder length dark red hair and emerald green eyes. She was a good friend to me. She and I were also best friends. She and James had been dating for 3 months now. They were very serious about each other and almost rarely were seen out of each other's company. James had short, untidy jet-black hair and blue eyes. Remus was the shy, quiet one of the group. He had light brown hair that was thick and wavy, and brown eyes. Sirius had shoulder length, thick black hair and blue eyes.

I was in 6^th year with them. We were all in the same classes as well. I have shoulder length mahogany colored hair and violet eyes. I was dressed in a grey pleated skirt, which reached my knees, the matching grey V necked jumper with the Gryffindor colors ribbed along the neckline, the maroon and gold striped tie and the black Hogwarts robe. It had the Gryffindor crest on it. All the girls wore the same skirts. The boys wore grey slacks.

Just then, Sirius and Lily entered the common room.

"Hey! Guess what I did to Ryan Thompson? I dropped an extra bat wing into his potion and it blew up! He got covered in this thick goo, it was brilliant!" Sirius said, laughing.

"Hi Haley," Lily said quickly changing the subject. She came over and sat beside me.

"Hi Lily," I said smiling as I closed my book and turned to face her.

"Man! That must've been something!" James said, laughing.

The guys started to talk. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Remus glancing at me every once and a while.

"So. What's new?" Lily asked, brightly.

"Not much. My parents just sent me a letter," I said, as my smile began fading. I opened the textbook pulled out the letter and handed it to her.

"Is the separation final?" Lily asked, quietly as she read it.

"Yeah. I'm going to more than likely live with my mum. My dad's incapable of taking care of himself, much less his own daughter," I said, rolling my eyes sadly.

My parents were getting a divorce. My dad drinks a lot. He's drunk 90 percent of the time and he beats mum and me up. A few times we had to call the police to come and get him. Finally, my mum had enough and ordered a divorce. I felt torn. On one hand I should be happy, but on the other, my family was separating for good. No more dinners together or anything. "It weird, you know? My parents were married for 12 years. He never used to be like that," I said, sadly shaking my head. I felt tears forming. "We're not going to be a family anymore," I said, sobbing freely now.

"Oh, Haley, of course you will! Just because your mum and dad aren't married anymore, doesn't mean you aren't still a family," Lily said, kindly as she wrapped her arm around me.

Remus had gotten up and came over. "Are you all right, Haley?" he asked, looking worried.

"Yeah. My parents' divorce is final after tomorrow. I'll be sent a letter. I'll be living with my mum hopefully," I said, managing a smile as I wiped the tears, which had been streaming down my cheeks. He was so caring. His brown eyes were filled with concern.

"Is she okay?" James asked next as he and Sirius had come over.

"I'm fine," I said, smiling.

They all care about you! I'm lucky to have such good friends. I thought to myself.

"Sure?" Remus asked, studying me. I nodded.

"Allrighty then. We've got Herbology now," said Sirius brightly as we all moaned and I stood up. I almost fell forward my leg had gone to sleep, but Remus had caught me.

"Wow. I must be drunk?" I said, laughing as I regained my balance.

"If you need to talk, I'm here," he offered.

"Thanks. I appreciate it," I said, grinning at him. He grinned back at me, we headed down to the greenhouses where Professor Larsen was waiting.

That night at dinner, we all sat together at the table. "Wow. That was some Transfiguration lesson huh? Imagine, turning a piece of parchment into a piece of wood! That was awesome!" James said, helping himself to some casserole.

"You get excited about the Shrinking Potion. Calm down, James," Sirius, said laughing.

"He's a model student. Like the rest of you should be," Lily said playfully eyeing Sirius and Remus.

"That's right. Stick up for your boyfriend," Sirius said, making googly eyes at her.

"Keep your eyes off my woman, you," James said as he playfully grabbed Sirius.

"What if I don't?" Sirius joked back.

"I'll use the Shrinking Potion on you!" James threatened.

"He's already there!" Lily chimed in.

We all laughed at Sirius' embarrassment.

Just then, Professor Dumbledore stood up and everyone in the Great Hall fell silent. "I have the pleasure of informing you that there will be a Valentines Day dance next Monday," There was a scatter of moaning, clapping and murmurs. Lily and James were grinning at each other. Sirius had pretended to occupy himself with his food and Remus was blushing. "Anyone above 5^th year may attend," said Dumbledore, as he sat back down.

There was the murmur again.

"We're going," James said, automatically.

"How'd I guess?" Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Hey. Go and get yourself a date," James shot back good-naturedly.

"Will you go with me?" Sirius asked, batting his eyelashes at James.

"In your dreams! Lily and I are going together," James said, snorting.

"I do have dreams..." Sirius began, but I reached over and clamped my hand over his mouth.

"I think we've heard enough. You'd better stop before you stick your foot in it," I laughed.

"That's happened more times than I can count," Lily laughed.

Sirius leaned toward me. "Would you like to go with me?" he asked, good naturedly.

I laughed again. "Sure. Like I enjoy going with a clown," I retorted.

"Seriously," Sirius said.

He was being serious. I was stunned. I glanced at Remus. Remus was silently eating and didn't raise his eyes to meet mine.

I was kind of hoping Remus would ask me. I was going to have to let Sirius down gently. I didn't have the heart to come flat out and say 'no'. "Sorry. I'm already going with someone," I said, keeping an eye on Remus.

"Wow! Who?" Lily asked, happily.

I gave her a meaningful look. Thank God she caught on.

"Oh okay," she nodded.

"No problem. I'll find someone," Sirius said, brightly.

At least he wasn't disappointed or hurt. I thought smiling to myself.

"Maybe we can get you a blow up girlfriend? Take her, the only thing you'd have to worry about is going near sharp objects!" Lily joked.

We all burst out laughing.

"Then we'd hear..." James said as he did a raspberry sound directly after those words.

We cracked up again and finished our dinner.

We all went up to the Gryffindor common room. Remus had pulled me aside on the way there.

"Can I ask you a question?" he asked.

"Sure!" I said.

"Um, whom are you going with? Is it someone in Gryffindor?" Remus asked.

I could see he was extremely nervous. I smiled. "No one. I just said that 'cause I didn't want to go with Sirius. I like him, don't get me wrong, but I'm hoping the person I want to go with asks me," I said grinning.

"Oh. I see. Well, I'd best go to bed," Remus said curtly and he went to continue up to the common room, but I gently grabbed his elbow and turned him around to face me.

"That person is you,"

He began blushing.

"Oh,"

I grinned.

So did Remus. "Let's go to bed, shall we?" Remus asked, clearing his throat, but then he began rambling. "Not together. I mean separate rooms. You go to your dorm and I will go to mine," he garbled, and then he blushed.

I smiled. "Relax. I know what you meant,"

He smiled and looked relieved. We continued to our dorm rooms.

The next morning, Lily pulled me aside. "Did he ask you?" she whispered.

"Who?" I asked looking puzzled.

"Remus!"

"How'd you know?" I said aghast.

"We all could see he likes you, Haley. We're not blind," Lily winked.

"Oh. Yeah he asked me. We're going," I nodded.

"Great! I can help you get ready!" Lily said brightly.

"Sure. I don't know what color dress robe to get or anything. I've never really been to a dance before with anyone,"

Lily looked alarmed and she looked at me like I was mad.

I grinned.

"You've never been to a dance? Did you ever have a boyfriend or anything?"

I shook my head. "No," I confided.

Still, Lily looked abashed.

"Haley, you're very pretty. I'm surprised!"

I blushed. "Thanks,"

We went down for breakfast. Sirius, James and Remus were already sitting at Gryffindor table eating breakfast. James looked up as Lily and I entered the Great Hall. "Morning!" James said brightly as he looked up.

"Morning!" Lily replied sitting beside him.

I sat next to Lily, across from Remus and Sirius. I began helping myself to some eggs, bacon and sausage. "Morning, Remus," I said, smiling.

"Sleep well?" Remus asked.

I nodded. "Yeah,"

About three minutes later, the owl post arrived. A large brown tawny owl landed in front of me with a letter tied to its leg. My heart began pounding. This was it. The letter of my parent's court dates. Lily looked up. I could see the pain in her eyes. I knew she felt bad for me and I appreciate it. She was a good friend. They all were. With a shaky hand, I began untying the letter. Once the letter was off it's leg, the owl stretched its wings and took off. I stared after it.

I raised my eyes to meet Remus'. He too, had pain in his eyes. "Go on, Haley," Lily coaxed quietly.

I opened the letter and began reading it a loud:

Dear Haley,

The court date is scheduled for June 11^th. We know you cannot make it, so I will give you an update. I hope you are all right and not too upset. None of this is our fault. Don't go blaming yourself. You and I did nothing wrong. Your father is just a sick man who needs help. Once that help is given, I'm sure he will be better off. I love you, sweetie.

Mum

All eyes were on me. I knew what they were thinking. I could read their expressions. I smiled. "I know. Trust me," I smiled weakly.

They all nodded and went back to eating. I moved my eyes onto the Hufflepuff table. There was a boy there that I didn't recognize. "Hey, who's that boy at the Hufflepuff table? I've never seen him before," I whispered.

Remus turned around and followed my gaze. "That's William Phillips. I think he transferred here,"

"Really? From where?" I asked.

Remus turned around again to face me. "I don't know. That's the weird part,"

I tilted my head. "Why's it weird?"

"Because no one seems to know where he came from. It was like he just showed up here and settled into Hufflepuff," said Remus conspiratorially. He then went back to eating his breakfast.